Because the British cut down almost every single tree in New York City after they took over Manhattan Island in September 1776—save for the woodlands that are now the New York Botanical Garden since the person who owned that land was a British sympathizer—the high ground gave a unique vantage point. The Americans later used the area, northwest of Fort Clinton, as a lookout after they had taken back the island.
Because of the lack of trees, “you could see all the way from here to the Long Island Sound, to the East River, and to the West River,” said Miller.
A slab some tour-goers sat on was a cannon base, but not from the War of 1812 as most assume. It comes from the British ship Hussar, which sank in the East River in 1789 while purportedly carrying $1 million gold to pay the troops. Whether that part is true or not, “people are still diving in the East River looking for gold,” said Miller.
The area’s history provoked a ruling by the city’s Landmark Committee that the conservancy couldn’t work on the North End before spending time identifying historical elements of the area, such as the fortifications carved out by both the British and the Americans. Miller spent four days with the archeologists, during which time they found “Red Coat” buttons, pots, and books.
In the park historian’s opinion, the next stop on the tour represents “a real scar on the parks design.” The group stood looking at the Lasker Ice Rink and Swimming Pool, which according to Miller disrupted a carefully planned design.
Frederick Law Olmsted and fellow park designer Calvert Vaux submitted an entry in 1858 named Greensward in a competition seeking designs for Central Park and won. They studied many pieces of art and sought to create a natural landscape that trumped the best artworks of the time.
“They did it better by making this three-dimensional design,” said Miller, who stood at her favorite place in the park, a “perfectly composed” man-made waterfall just beyond Huddlestone Arch.
A couple took respite on the upper rocks while Miller explained how the waterfall is a perfect example of how conscientious Olmstead and Vaux were, with details from the way the rocks were chiseled, spraying differently at each waterfall, to the appearance of the surrounding rocks, like they might have just fallen into place naturally.
When the conservancy was putting the rocks back together using historical photos, said Miller, “They fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.”
The conservancy revived the park from a murky place to the attraction it is today. Janice Matteucci, of the 33,000-acre Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio, remembered when she lived in New York in the ‘80s and didn’t dare traipse into the north part of the park. Now the Central Park Conservancy seeks to have more of the 550,000 people who live within 10 minutes of the park become members and support the cause.
Although they receive $5 million to $8 million from the city, the operating budget is $42.2 million annually. “That’s just what it takes to mow the grass, clean the graffiti, what there is of it, prune the trees, etcetera,” said Miller, not counting capital costs such as current efforts to restore playgrounds and work on 90 acres of woodland in the northern portion that have never been touched.
The tour was held as part of a four-day event titled Greater & Greener: Re-Imagining Parks for 21st Century Cities. Everyone on the tour The Epoch Times spoke with, including Mary Mattingly, who works on Oakland parks in California, Russell Brown, of Houston’s Memorial Park Conservancy in Texas, and Sorina-Georgiana Rusu, an urban planner from Romania, said they enjoyed the tour.
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